IRAN TO RANK THIRD IN GAS PRODUCTION WORLDWIDE

Mehr news agency
4 Apr 06

Tehran, 4 April: Implementation of the existing gas projects and
completion of the South Pars development plans in particular may allow
Iran to be the third major natural gas producer in the next four years.

Based on the current statistics, the world’s annual gas consumption
stands at 2,618.5 billion cubic meters which is equivalent to 50
million barrels of oil per day, the Persian service of ISNA reported
on Tuesday.

Russia and the United States allocate 43.3 per cent of global
production to themselves while Canada, the Great Britain, Algeria
and Indonesia are the other major producers in that order. Iran sits
seventh in the ranking with 70 billion cubic meters per annum.

Given the dispersion of natural gas resources in Latin America
and Asia, Iran is a reliable source of supply being near the
energy-starving India and China. Nevertheless, the country has signed
no long-term gas export contract since 1996, Turkey being the sole one.

But, the promising fact remains that Iran could increase its production
capacity to 255.5 billion cubic meters in four years and maintain a
gradual growth to 360 billion per annum over the next 30 years.

The current gas export projects under way to the UAE and Armenia are
to be operational by yearend and several important talks have so far
been held with Pakistan, India and the EU to this end.